iG blocked for not controlling junk email

The blocking of the Brasilian Internet provider coincides with their request
to investigate the domain antispam.org.br

By Valeria Chalegre, ZDNet Brasil
October 27, 2000

This week, iG, an Internet Service Provider, and the Brasilian Antispam Movement
found themselves in the center of a great controversy regarding junk email
(a.k.a. spam).

The origins of the conflict were the inclusion of two iG servers on the
blackhole list of MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention System),
an entity that publishes the identity of providers that do not control the
traffic of unsolicited messages for distribution at a global level.

As a result of iG's inclusion on the MAPS list, their users couldn't send
messages to those providers that subscribe to the recommendations of the
American organization.

The blackhole listing only lasted one day, until iG contacted MAPS explaining
why they did not respond to the emails sent by the organization. According to
the public relations department of iG, the MAPS email that avised of the
imminent inclusion of iG on the blackhole list was sent to the technical
support department, where the necessary remedies were not performed.
The directors of iG asked that Fapesp, the entity responsible for the .br
domains, investigate the domain antispam.org.br

Coincidence?
Coincidentally, the day of iG's inclusion on the MAPS list, a request for
investigation of the registration of the site of the Brasilian Antispam Movement
(www.antispam.org.br) was made, because their address indicated in the Fapesp
registry was abroad, which is not permitted. The request was made by Demi
Getschko, iG's Vicepresident of Technology.

According to the iG public relations department, the petition for verification
of the domain antispam.org.br did not have a direct relation with the inclusion
of the provider on the MAPS list, but was motivated by abusive comments related
to iG, published on the antispam.org.br site. Upon seeing those, Demi Getschko
searched for the party responsible for the domain at the registro.br site.
As there was no responsible party in Brasil, an email was sent to Fapesp
explaining the facts.

In a commentary published on their site, the Antispam Movement declared that
they had nothing to do with iG's inclusion on the MAPS list. The responsible
party is RNP (Red Nacional de Investigaciones).

Fapesp decided to cancel the domain until a legal representative of the
Brasilian Antispam Movement comes forward. The site continued on the air
despite some technical details, and the site registro.br and the domain
antispam.org.br will appear as reserved by the Steering Committee (Comite Gestor),
the regulatory entity of the Internet in Brasil.

In an official communique, the Steering Committee declared that the procedure
adopted in this case is absolutely normal, and provided for in Resolution 001
which regulate the operations of the domain registry in Brasil.